friends

My heart cracks open and I get a little weak in the knees when I think of all the beautiful people in my life that let me call them my friends. I bet you feel the same way, even if it's just for one or two people. Friends are the places where we hide away our love, store it away for a day when we really are going to need it and a true friend never fails to be there on that day when youre ready to cash in on all your savings. My goodness, doesn't it sometimes feel like friends are the hands of Love reaching directly into your life? They are fun. Oh man are they fun! They are free and they are plenty but, still, oh so rare.Friends are people that leave us luminous, they are places to hide, to be free, to open our deepest selves to. They are our guidance, our comrades, our way to plug into the world around us, to make sense of it all.

Other people have the ability to influence us directly and profoundly with little or no effort at all. To be surrounded by those miraculous and lovely humans that come to you with nothing more than love and curiousity is perhaps one of the most important things that we could do, dont you think? I know what it feels like when I leave a conversation that I just had with a loving, kind person. Super charged, inspired with a sense of appreciation for life. And I know what it feels like when I walk away from a moment with someone who perhaps isnt as interested in honest, open, loving connection as I am. Depleted, scattered with a wafting hopelessness. I'm in no way saying to avoid some people simply because of how they make you feel, not at all. I think there is enough goodness in one person to get around to everyone. But, doesn't exploring who you click with or not just make you appreciate those human treasures who happen to be your perfect fit? I was speaking with one of my favorite friends the other day, one who never fails to look at me with the most clear and honest soul, and she said that she feels like her friends are her family. I have to agree with her. It's something special to have people in your life who, by no obligation put upon them by the past or a shared last name, love you simply because they like you so much that they needed a bigger word. One that can hold all the unconditional goodness that they hope for you.

In this world in which we find ourselves that often times leaves us feeling so frightened, so alone, so lost, so tired and so in need, what a glorious thing it is that we are given each other. We have the opportunity to be something, that precious, precious something for another that is forever worth more than all the treasures of this world. What a gift to be able to give. What a purpose to be able to have. The only thing that really matters. The power to be love for someone, be laughter and light is simply a trememndous honor and responsibility. You can be the incarnation of Love that could lift someones spirit so they might spread their wings and ride the winds of their destiny. And, like I've said in the past, it's catching. I think maybe that's how we change the world, make it a better place. Love a little more...and I say start with your friends.

A poet from long ago called Hafiz put it this way,

Like a Life-Giving Sun

You could become a great horseman
And help to free yourself and this world
Though only if you and prayer become sweet
Lovers.
It is a naive man who thinks we are not
Engaged in a fierce battle,
For I see and hear brave foot soldiers
All around me going mad,
Falling on the ground in excruciating pain.
You could become a victorious horseman
And carry your heart through this world
Like a life-giving sun
Though only if you and God become sweet lovers!

Or words from another group of poet prophets, U2:

"We're One but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other."

We get to. Get to. Indeed, what a privelege it is.

I had just a few of my favorite people over the other night to feast with me on vegan delights. We had Dal (lentils prepared Indian style), brown rice, a big herb salad, seitan veggie skewers, roasted brussel sprouts and Nori Burritos. Oh yeah and cookies! It was yum yum yummy. It's one of my favorite things to do, to cook loving, healthy, healing food for the people in my life.

I think the best part was the Nori Burritos. Here's the recipe! It's from, you guessed it, The Kind Diet.

NORI BURRITOS
1 Package of nori
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 avocado
alfalfa sprouts
basil
1/4 shredded carrot
mixed baby greens
Hoison sauce

Place a few spoonfulls of rice onto one sheet of Nori.
Add a bit of avocado, some sprouts, a little shredded carrot,
tear up a basil leaf and add that too and a few leaves of the baby greens.
Finish with a drizzle of hoisin sauce.

Either roll it into a cone shape or fold the bottom and roll it like a burrito (that's what I did). Wet your fingers with a little water and press gently on the edges of the nori to seal it shut. So good!


They were delicious and here's why they are nutritious...
Nori:
•Vitamin A --You can consume enough vitamin A per day with just two sheets of nori.
•Vitamin B --Two sheets of nori also contain Vitamin B1 and B2 in amounts equivalent to 50~60 grams of pork, a sufficient daily amount.
•Vitamin C --Nori has twice the vitamin C as the same amount of tangerines do. In general, vitamin C is easily destroyed by heat, but in the case of nori, vitamin C is stronger and is retained even when heated.
•Iron --Two sheets of nori contain an amount of iron equal to 600 cc of milk or one egg.
Plus plenty of fiber and protein in the brown rice
(about 4 grams fiber and 5 grams protein), omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in the avocado, vitamin A and C in the carrot carrot and a little calcium as well.

Friends!

Veggies and wine mmmmm...

his arch nemesis! ;)

enjoying The Kind Diet

girls LOVE food. period.